Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom has revoked all rights granted to mining racketeers by some communities within Benue State territory with a warning that anyone caught indulging in or abating illegal mining activities will be prosecuted.
This is even as the governor ordered for immediate suspension of all illegal mining activities taking place in some parts of the state.
Ortom who gave the order yesterday in Makurdi during an emergency security interface with stakeholders drawn from Kwande local government area over illegal mining of gold in the area, said illegal mining poses security and environmental threats to not just Kwande but the entire state if allowed to fester.
He said, “Although mining is in the exclusive list controlled by the federal government, the lands where mining is done is held by the governor in trust for the people of state, emphasising that due process must be followed in carrying out mining”
He stated that prospective licensed miners will be adequately profiled before they will be allowed to carry out any mining activity in the state to check the infiltration of criminal elements.
Governor Ortom however commended the Kwande local government area chairman, Hon. Orjiir Gbande for being alert and drawing his attention to the security and environmental threats posed by the illegal mining activities in the Turan and Kyurav axis of the local government.
The governor cautioned traditional rulers from the area to refrain from unlawfully ceding lands to prospective miners, stressing that only the state government had the rights to approve lands for use by anyone for such purpose.
Ortom also urged all stakeholders to get involved in the sensitisation of their communities on the impending dangers of allowing unauthorized persons access to their communities for the purpose of mining.
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